Family comedy doesn't rise to the occasion

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 28, 2004

Photo: RON BATZDORFF

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In Beacon Pictures' romantic comedy "Raising Helen," after Helen (Kate Hudson, right) is entrusted with the care of her two nieces and nephew, she falls for Pastor Dan (John Corbett, left), the kids new principal. (AP Photo/Ron Batzdorff) less

In Beacon Pictures' romantic comedy "Raising Helen," after Helen (Kate Hudson, right) is entrusted with the care of her two nieces and nephew, she falls for Pastor Dan (John Corbett, left), the kids new ... more

"Raising Helen" begins like "Sex and the City," with a size 2 blonde in 4-inch heels traipsing through Manhattan. She's got the clout to breeze into the coolest clubs -- no doubt feeling the breeze in a party dress barely covering her derriere -- bypassing the ordinary people waiting in line.

There's nothing ordinary about Helen. Kate Hudson plays her with a sense of entitlement befitting a go-getter on the brink of a big career as a modeling agent. But her swinging single life comes to an abrupt halt when she inherits three children.

An instant family offers advantages to screenwriters. There's no need to stuff the leading lady with pillows or for one of those queasy delivery room scenes where everybody yells "push."

Like "Baby Boom" and "Big Daddy" before it, "Raising Helen" raises the possibility that parenthood provides a more meaningful existence than living solely for yourself. If that's the message veteran director Garry Marshall hopes to convey, he might have lowered the mortality rate of the parents in his picture. Not only do Helen's nieces and nephew lose their mom and dad in a car crash, but Helen's own mother also bit the dust when Helen was a tot.

In its haste to get to the laughs, "Raising Helen" fast-forwards through the mourning process. "Six Feet Under" this isn't. By the time the family assembles to hear the dead sister's will, Helen is back to cracking jokes. Learning that custody has been awarded to her instead of another sister, Jenny, who has oodles of parenting experience, Helen responds with, "Jenny should have the children. She has the mom hairdo."

Slowly, Helen acclimates herself to motherhood, providing the movie's most heartfelt moments. She learns to take control of her young wards instead of allowing them free rein. When they exhibit signs of depression over their loss, she devises clever ways to perk them up.

If only Marshall and scriptwriters Patrick Clifton and Beth Rigazio had been equally clever at perking up a totally predictable plot. When it's so obvious where a movie is headed, something's got to happen onscreen to keep you engaged. But too many comic opportunities fall as flat as Helen when she takes a pratfall at the kids' school. It's a sign of desperation when an actress has to take a spill to liven things up.

Hudson has a perky screen presence (too perky for my taste), but she's not yet a movie star capable of shouldering an entire picture. She needs support. When Hudson gets it, as she did in "Almost Famous," she can uncover depths in her character.

Her strongest scenes in "Raising Helen" are opposite pros like Joan Cusack as her resentful sister and Helen Mirren as the employer who fires Helen when the kids get in the way. Pursing her lips, the redoubtable Mirren delivers an elegant speech about how not everyone is cut out to be a parent --

a modest concession to singles who might feel excluded by the movie's pro- family point of view.

A romantic aside involving Helen and Pastor Dan (John Corbett), a Lutheran school principal, is deadly. Corbett, who exhibited some spark in "Sex and the City," sleepwalks through this role, and Hudson lacks the magic wand to awaken him. The good pastor is an ordinary bloke, the kind Helen wouldn't have given a second glance before she became humanized by her young charges. His kindness to the tykes wins them over, but Helen's not convinced he's boyfriend material. The way Corbett plays him, her ambivalence is understandable. The guy is a bore, lending credence to Garrison Keillor's warnings about Lutherans.

When Pastor Dan takes Helen and the kids to Central Park to see the animals, Simon and Garfunkel's "At the Zoo" plays in the background. I can't hear that song without thinking of "The Graduate." Comparing the bizarre relationship between Elaine and Benjamin to Helen and Dan's bland one is a reminder of the extent to which movies have lost their nerve. "Raising Helen" is far from the worst cookie-cutter film to come off the Hollywood assembly line, merely the latest.

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